Elizabeth Brown, who has died aged 80, was a dedicated social worker and paediatric nurse. She spent her life not only campaigning passionately for equality, but also putting her principles into practice. Elizabeth was a member of the British Association of Social Workers, serving on various committees right up to her death. She was not afraid to ask awkward, challenging questions, and this made her a highly valued and important BASW member. She campaigned for social workers to be seen as professionals and for the need for BASW, and the profession as a whole, to reflect the populations that they served, in terms of ethnic composition.
Elizabeth was born in Brooklyn, New York, and went to the Packer Institute, then a girls' school, followed by Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard University), in Massachusetts, to study paediatric nursing. She first came to Britain in the late 1950s and fell in love with the country and way of life. After nursing for several years, both in England and the US, she retrained as a social worker.
She worked for many London authorities, ending up at Redbridge borough council in charge of their adoption agency. She was always concerned that the children in her care should get the best deal possible, sometimes becoming frustrated at the paperwork and red tape involved. She retired in 1994, having worked for 25 years for local government.
Elizabeth was proud of her family's Scottish roots and belonged to a local Scottish country dancing group. She also belonged to the Seven Sisters Reading Group, which met monthly in London. A staunch supporter of women's rights, she campaigned for the group to choose only books written by female authors.
Elizabeth, also known as Betsey or Liz, gained dual nationality, and delighted in being able to enter the country via the UK and Commonwealth queue at immigration. She never married, but leaves behind many close friends. She was always ready to share a glass of bubbly, a gin and tonic or some good scotch. To me, she was Aunt Betsey, an honorary title she gained by virtue of being my mother's college roommate and best friend. No one could have had a more loyal and supportive aunt.